Manchester Airport has issued some clarification after multiple flights were diverted across Europe on Thursday morning after a further series of bomb threats led to diversions and emergency landings across Europe.
Flights have been diverted across Europe today, but Manchester Airport confirmed there is currently no impact on its operations.
The incidents follow hoax security alerts affecting planes, including some departing from the UK and Ireland, on Tuesday.
At least eight flights were targeted today, including services from Copenhagen, Helsinki, Madrid, Milan, and Warsaw. They are currently understood to be hoax alerts.
Among the affected flights was a Ryanair service from London Stansted to Sofia, which was diverted and landed safely in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, told reporters she was aware that a "small number of flights" had been disrupted.
Ms Alexander said: "We do have some of the most robust aviation security systems anywhere in the world and we have established processes for dealing with hoax and malicious threats, and that’s what these threats have been."
Ms Alexander said the UK took these threats "seriously", adding: "But we understand that these have been malicious hoax threats."
A UK Government spokesperson said: "Threats reported in the early hours of this morning have been resolved.
"It’s right that authorities treat any potential threats seriously — the UK has one of the most robust aviation security systems in the world, with well-tested processes for dealing with any threats, as well as malicious hoaxes, like those we’ve seen this week.
"The Met’s Aviation Policing Command continues to monitor the situation and liaise with the relevant authorities."
One of the affected flights, Aer Lingus flight EI402 from Dublin to Rome, was diverted to an airfield in northern France.
A spokesman for the French prime minister’s office said: "The 151 passengers and six crew members were brought to safety and the bomb disposal teams intervened."
Aer Lingus confirmed the diversion was a security precaution and said it would work to reaccommodate customers.
Finnish airline Finnair reported that two of its flights, from Helsinki to Rome and Helsinki to Vienna, received "unfounded or hoax" bomb threats.
Both aircraft landed at their destinations, and passengers disembarked safely.
Finnair said nothing out of the ordinary was found during an inspection of the aircraft in Rome, while checks were still ongoing in Vienna.
There were 144 passengers and seven crew on the Rome flight, and 177 passengers and six crew on the Vienna service.
WizzAir also confirmed two of its flights were threatened on Thursday.
One flight from Milan to Bucharest landed safely, while another from Milan to Warsaw was diverted to Vienna, where it landed.
A spokesman for WizzAir said: "The safety and security of our passengers and crew remain our highest priority.
"We are co-operating fully with the relevant authorities and taking all necessary steps to ensure the safety of everyone onboard."
Despite the disruption elsewhere, Manchester Airport confirmed that its flights were not affected by the threats.
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